The Green Witness
by Swagnarok
Summary: Over the course of the past year, in the process of covering for Conan's absences, Haibara ended up "missing" a lot of school days. And so, she has to attend the annual parents-teachers conference at Teitan Elementary. Culmination of the Mezcal Arc thus far, Episodes 985-986.
1. Chapter 1

_When I was fifteen years old, I had the strangest of experiences._ _Perhaps you did too, at one time or another._

 _Did you ever wake up crying in the middle of the night? It might've felt silly in afterthought, that a person could get so worked up over a dream. But in that dream, you remembered: a person who you totally forgot about. A person who, at one time, was very dear to you. A person who, logically speaking, you could not have ever known. A person who doesn't even exist, surely._

 _But in those minutes when you were with them, in the netherworld, you felt happy. You were with a friend, and you readily spoke with that person as though you'd always known him or her. From childhood, perhaps. Maybe you two grew up together._ _Maybe you even married that person, and spent many happy years together in that capacity. You were perhaps vaguely aware during the experience that, until very recently, you'd forgotten that such a person existed. How could that be? But it didn't matter: now you were reunited with that person, and your foggy memory from a few minutes ago could be excused._

 _But then you woke up, and you realized that it was all a dream. You would never see that person again. And that was enough to make your eyes well up, without you willing them to. Maybe you got over it quickly, and troubled your mind about other things. Real things of real importance, you tell yourself, but if only for one moment you understood the depth of what you had lost in waking up._

 _The vast majority of people, within a day after waking up from a dream, they'd just stop caring, or even forget such a dream entirely. That's what sets me apart from everyone else: I never did. Waking up left a void inside of me, and time wouldn't fill it. I vowed to myself: one day I'll return to that other world._

 _And if I can't do that, then I'll simply bring that world here. Yes, I will do just that, or die trying._

 **Scene Transition**

"Oh! Is this really it?"

Conan shook the package.

"What is it?" Nancy asked.

Instead of answering, Conan went inside. He went straight to the kitchen and grabbed a sharp knife.

He used it to open the package. He took the contents out.

"A book?" Nancy said. "Whoa. And it's in English too. I don't feel like working my brain right now. What's it called?"

" _The War of the Worlds_ ," Conan said. "Written by H.G. Wells near the end of the 19th century, at a time when Great Britain feared it might one day be invaded by the Germans, at a time when there was a lot of hype about life on mars. It was even thought that the martians had built canals on the red planet."

"Um, okay, I guess it's good to see you reading something that isn't about criminals and detectives. But why in English?"

"Eh. You lose a lot in translation. Also, I want to brush up on the language," Conan said. "You ever worry that if you spend too long as a child you'll forget everything you learned as an adult?"

Nancy shrugged. "Haven't really thought about it. But, I mean, most people stop learning new things once they reach a certain age anyway, and forget most of what they learned in college, so I don't think it's a big deal. Even if I do forget, I'll just have to learn it all over again in high school and whatnot, right?"

There was a pause.

"We didn't check to see if they were home first, did we?" Conan asked.

"It's fine," Nancy said. "Dad said he'll be eating lunch with a client, and mom's scheduled to give a lecture at Tohto University School of Law in about...twenty minutes."

"So I guess that means we've got the house to ourselves for the next hour or two. No better time for me to crank some music up and enjoy my book."

Nancy sighed. "Man, this sucks. I can't be on social media, or call my old friends. And the guys are all busy with something today...er, what was it all again?"

"Genta and Shiro are practicing boxing, Mitsuhiko's busy running for class president, Ayumi and that new guy she's friends with are sifting through random people's garbage for whatever reason, and Haibara's getting ready for tonight."

"The Parent-Teachers Conference, you mean?"

Conan nodded. "If you'll recall, she's missed a _looooooot_ of school days over the past year. Granted, most of it's because of me, but it's not like any of her teachers know that. So she and the Professor have to attend tonight."

"Kind of silly, really. Any day now she could just take a test and go straight to college, if she wanted to."

"If she wanted to get caught by the man in black and die, you mean."

"You know what I mean."

"Not really. To blend in among elementary school students, you have to act like one, and that means showing up to class and pretending like you don't know any of the material. To maintain that facade, Haibara and the Professor have to pretend that her absences so far pose a serious problem for her education."

"Well, next time you have to go investigate something as Shinichi during the school day I guess I could be the one who supposedly plays hooky," Nancy said.

"No way! Your parents would chew you out big time for that one. Since the Professor's in on the loop, Haibara won't suffer any consequences for doing so. Thus, she's the best person for the job.

"Speaking of the devil," Conan continued, "it's been about a week since all that business with Triskelion and Peniwaisu. By extension, it's been a week since Haibara came back."

"Oh yeah," Nancy said. "Did you ever ask her about Mezcal?"

"No," Conan said. "I haven't had a good chance to bring it up."

"Good chance? Can't you just call her or text her?"

"No, because that'd be breaking the norms of this series. Once I become suspicious of somebody's identity, or wonder if they know something important that I don't, I have to sit on my hands for the next 100 to 300 episodes before asking them about it."

"Did you _really_ just break the 4th wall?" Nancy said.

"Who cares? It's not even the real thing. Just a fanfic written by some college student guy who still lives with his parents."

"Hmm, never really thought about it that way," Nancy said.

"I'm definitely gonna ask her about it tomorrow," Conan vowed.

 **Scene Transition**

 **Several Hours Later**

"... Aw man, English is bloody murder," Conan said, putting the book down.

"How far into it are you?" Nancy asked.

"Only 60 pages," Conan said, a slight whiny tone in his voice.

"Wow. It's really that bad?"

"It's like I'm just staring at ink on a page most the time."

"Was the experience worth five hours of your time?"

"No. That was horrible. It was five hours of my life I'll never get back. I think I would've rather sat in on a ten year olds' piano recital or something."

Eri opened the door. "Conan-k...is that a book in English?"

"Uh, yeah, it's War of the Worlds," Conan said.

"...You can read that?"

There was an awkward pause.

"Um, is there something you need us to do?" Conan asked.

"Um...ah! Right! Your friend's here waiting for you outside the door. It's Mitsuhiko-kun."

That's weird, Conan thought as he walked to the other end of the apartment. You'd think he'd be too busy for...

He opened the door and:

"Conan! Please, I need your help with something."

As Mitsuhiko and a random other boy who was with him bowed politely, Conan knew he was about to be dragged into yet another misadventure.

 **Opening**

(Shameless by CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE)

Whoo girl you're as cool as ice

Deal me another full deck o' lies

Dontcha dare break yer poker face

Empty my heart's vault at record pace

 _Baby yeeeeeah!_

(Not all that glitters is gold! A pearly white smile can mask a heart as black as coal! At Teitan Elementary after hours, the parents and teachers meet once a year! Haibara has to be there, but she gets more than she bargained for! Perceiving the one and only truth! With the body of a child but the mind of an adult, my name is DETECTIVE CONAN!)

And so we find ourselves at this crossroad again

Per my count, you've lied to me five times tonight

You've woven a tale that'd leave J.R.R. Tolkien speechless

A carefully constructed narrative flimsier than a house of cards

I don't know if I should let you walk away

I don't know if you're worth the trouble

But what I care enough to demand an answer to

"What did I have that you wanted for your own?"

You shameless thing, a web of deceit left in your wake

Antithetical to the driving force that binds people together

A thick veil of mist shrouds the true you that you can't let slip

In the name of all that's true, I'll deconstruct you piece by piece!

 **The Green Witness! Part One!**

"Ooh! Ooh! Jackpot!"

He threw the dirty boots out. Ayumi used the trash claw grabber to put them in the bag.

"Alright, does it look about full?" Yasuda asked.

"Yeah. You want me to tie it?"

"Yeah. We got any more bags left?"

"Um...no, I think that's all we got."

Shigeo Yasuda climbed out of the dumpster.

He looked at the five bags. "Hmm, looks like we did good today."

He grabbed four, she grabbed one.

"What's the time?"

She told him.

"Dang it, we'd better make this fast. I hafta be up there soon."

"But aren't they having that thing with the parents today?" Ayumi asked.

"Yeah, so I guess they can just be extra careful walking in the hallways."

 **Scene Transition**

Working and Middle-Class parents began to pack into the building through the one double door. Some of them were accompanied by their children.

Kobayashi-sensei and the Principal greeted them and directed towards the cafeteria.

"Um, hey there," Kobayashi said to Haibara and the Professor as they walked by.

In total, about 80 to 100 parents showed up.

Dr. Agasa was walking towards Torishima-sensei, when:

"Ah! You must be the Professor."

Dr. Agasa shook the fat lady's hand. "And you must be the school nurse. Conan-kun told me all about you."

"About my...*ahem* garden?"

"Yes, and be rest assured it doesn't bother me."

He then turned to face...

"Officer Yamamura?"

"Nope, I'm his twin brother, Misato."

"So, um, you're a teacher here?"

"Nah. I'm just part of the school board. I've been trying to get my alma mater to lend some equipment for Teitan's science lab. You know, once it comes in we'll need somebody to come teach basic chemistry in the science lab. How about it, Professor? Would you maybe consider volunteering to do that?"

"Oh? Um, w-well... "

Ai-kun would be better suited for that, honestly, he thought.

"Um, by the way, you said you're not a teacher here? So how do you know about me?"

"Umm, I-I read about you in the news, or course!" Misato said with a nervous chuckle. "Your portable electronic can opener is legendary."

"But...that didn't sell well at all, I don't think?" Dr. Agasa said.

"Aww, don't be so modest! Oh, if you'll excuse me I need to go talk with the Principal."

In the thick and thin of the crowd, Haibara sat down at a table next to 6 other kids.

"So, what'd you do?" a boy her (supposed) age asked.

"Huh?"

"I'm here because I've been sleeping through classes," he said.

"Um, well, I've been playing hoo-

*BADUM*

Almost a conditioned response by this point, her heart rate doubled. Her head shot left and right frantically, and her thinking became muddled.

"He's here."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

Instead of answering, she got up and ran for the door.

 **Scene Transition**

If I can just make it to the exit, she thought...

That Person was coming. He/She was running after her.

That Person was an adult; even if they had less stamina, they had longer legs.

That Person caught up with her, and stood before her.

There was a lump in her throat.

"...Do you remember me?"

She didn't answer.

"Well, I guess that's a trick question anyhow. If you didn't, you wouldn't have run. Am I wrong, Sherry?"

Her lip quivering, she let out a barely audible response:

"What are you going to do to me?"

Without looking away from their face, she reached her hand into her pocket. As she began to pull it out, That Person grabbed her hand and yanked it upwards.

He/She snatched the phone from her hand. He/She looked at the screen.

Haibara took this chance to run the other way. That Person tossed the phone over his/her shoulder and ran after her.

That Person grabbed her, picked her up, and slammed her against one of the lockers.

"What do you WANT with me?!" she demanded, exasperated.

He/She sighed. "We need to talk."

 **Scene Transition**

"It all started yesterday," the boy said. "I brought a 1989 collector's edition Kamen Yaiba trading card to school. I'd gotten it for cheap the day before at a yard sale, and I was looking to show it off to my classmates. When I got home, I realized it gone!"

"And so today you asked Mitsuhiko to help you find it," Conan guessed.

"Y-yeah. I promised him my vote if he'd help me. We spent about an hour looking around after class let out, until some teacher scolded us and made us go home."

Conan sighed. "Okay. First off, did you show off the cards in every class you had?"

"Yeah."

"And what was your last class that day?" Nancy asked.

"Well, um...oh yeah. It was hand practice."

"You sit in the back of the classroom then, right?" Conan said.

"Huh? How'd you know that?" the kid asked.

"Your lips have calluses," Conan said. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you'd recently taken up playing the trombone. It's a powerful instrument, of low pitch, so the teacher would probably make you sit in the back, so that he could better hear the higher pitch woodwind instruments."

"That's amazing!" Mitsuhiko said.

"But yeah, we went there and searched," the kid said. "And we even searched my desk, and the floor surrounding it. The card wasn't there."

"Hey, wait a minute," Conan said. "The band at Teitan is still being taught by Nagatoshi-sensei, right? Wasn't he really strict? An old-fashioned, non-nonsense kind of guy?"

"Was?" Mitsuhiko and the kid repeated, confused.

"Conan, you've never had any classes with him before, right?" Mitsuhiko asked. "So how would you know what he's like?"

That guy was psychotic, Conan recalled with a deadpan look. When I played a wrong note he'd trample on the sheet music and scream at me, and break a drumstick or two for good measure. My mom petitioned the school to have him fired, and when that failed she made me quit band and taught me piano herself at home.

"Oh, um, I heard from Ran-neechan that he was teaching band ten years ago," he lied with a nervous chuckle. "So, anyways, you'd be in trouble if he caught you goofing off right before class, right?"

"Yeah," the kid said. "Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure when I was showing them the card Nagatoshi-sensei hadn't arrived yet."

"So what if he suddenly arrived while you were showing the card to the guy next to you?" Conan asked. "What if, without looking conspicuous, such as by bending over, you had to find some way to hide the card? What would you do?"

There was a pause, and then:

"OH! I know now! I stuck it under the desk, onto that wad of chewing gum! Thanks!"

The kid turned to go when-

"Hold on. The parent-teachers conference is happening right now," Conan said. "If we tag along with you, we can explain why you're there, and perhaps keep you out of trouble."

The kid nodded. "Okay!"

Mitsuhiko turned to Nancy. "You should come with us."

She shrugged. "Cool. Not like there's anything else to do right now."

 **Scene Transition**

Haibara returned to the cafeteria.

The Professor ran up to her. "There you are. I've been looking all over for you. Hmm? What happened to your phone?"

"I dropped it earlier," Haibara said. "I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings and it happened just like that."

"I see. Anyways, Kobayashi-sensei would like to talk to you about something."

He went to hold her hand. Startled, hers recoiled from his.

"Huh? Ai-kun, is something the matter?" Dr. Agasa asked.

She stared down at her feet. "...No, everything's fine. Let's go."He

 **Scene Transition**

Taking a side entrance inside the school, they snuck around to the music room.

Mitsuhiko tried the door. He shook his head as to indicate "It's no use."

"Give me a boost," Conan said. "I'm gonna peek inside."W

With their assistance, he managed to peer into the small rectangular window on the door.

When he saw it, he fell backwards, onto the floor.

"Are you alright?" Nancy asked, helping him up.

"What'd you see in there?" Nancy asked.

"A red stain on the carpet," Conan said. "It was fairly large too. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that..."

He turned to the kid. "Alright, you go on home now. If your card's in there, we'll retrieve it, and hand it back to you tomorrow."

The kid nodded, and walked away.

"What, do you think somebody was...?" Nancy asked.

Conan nodded. "I know technically we're not supposed to be here, but we need to find an adult."

"Ehh? What are you three doing here?"

It was Yasuda, who'd just turned a corner, wet mop in hand.

"Ah, Yasuda-san!" Conan said. "We need you to unlock this door for us. Hurry, it's important!"

Without entirely comprehending the situation, Yasuda nodded and went to find somebody with a key.

A few minutes later, he and another member of the school faculty were unlocking the door to the music room.

They opened it. Mitsuhiko ran inside, and:

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

His scream resounded across the school, and soon other adults came running.

In that room a man, Keitaro Nagatoshi, age 55, lay dead, several stab wounds on his body.

 **Ending**

( _Hoshi Monogatari_ by Egoist)

I know you've taken this from my cold dead fingertips

I wrote this to tell you what I never had the nerve to say

Because I know that right now, you're punishing yourself

Because you of all people deserve to know the whole story

Once I was only a child, but I was old enough to understand

Something important was missing, though I didn't know what

I wandered in the dark, calling to the crowd, "Excuse me, sirs!"

"Somebody, anybody, please, tell me what I'm doing wrong!"

Finally, on the starry night of Tanabata, I looked out my window

And said, "Kami-sama, if you could let me have a friend, just one.

One who's true and faithful, and funny, but most of all spirited.

This one thing I ask, and I'll never ask for anything ever again."

And then I met you, and in what seemed like an eternity I had

The chance to know you, and for the first time I was really happy

It never ended, you see, that initial bliss: it grew, as we grew closer

Thank you, my one and dearest friend, for teaching me how to love

 **Next Conan's Hint: Eraser**


	2. Chapter 2

Taking a side entrance inside the school, they snuck around to the music room.

Mitsuhiko tried the door. He shook his head as to indicate "It's no use."

"Give me a boost," Conan said. "I'm gonna peek inside."

With their assistance, he managed to peer into the small rectangular window on the door.

When he saw it, he fell backwards, onto the floor.

"Are you alright?" Nancy asked, helping him up.

"What'd you see in there?" Nancy asked.

"A red stain on the carpet," Conan said. "It was fairly large too. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that..."

He turned to the kid. "Alright, you go on home now. If your card's in there, we'll retrieve it, and hand it back to you tomorrow."

The kid nodded, and walked away.

"What, do you think somebody was...?" Nancy asked.

Conan nodded. "I know technically we're not supposed to be here, but we need to find an adult."

"Ehh? What are you three doing here?"

It was Yasuda, who'd just turned a corner, wet mop in hand.

"Ah, Yasuda-san!" Conan said. "We need you to unlock this door for us. Hurry, it's important!"

Without entirely comprehending the situation, Yasuda nodded and went to find somebody with a key.

A few minutes later, he and another member of the school faculty were unlocking the door to the music room.

They opened it. Mitsuhiko ran inside, and:

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

His scream resounded across the school, and soon other adults came running.

In that room a man, Keitaro Nagatoshi, age 55, lay dead, several stab wounds on his body.

 **Opening**

(Shameless by CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE)

Whoo girl you're as cool as ice

Deal me another full deck o' lies

Dontcha dare break yer poker face

Empty my heart's vault at record pace

 _Baby yeeeeeah!_

(Not all that glitters is gold! A pearly white smile can mask a heart as black as coal! A murder in the music room at Teitan Elementary! Can we reconstruct the victim's dying message? Perceiving the one and only truth! With the body of a child but the mind of an adult, my name is DETECTIVE CONAN!)

And so we find ourselves at this crossroad again

Per my count, you've lied to me five times tonight

You've woven a tale that'd leave J.R.R. Tolkien speechless

A carefully constructed narrative flimsier than a house of cards

I don't know if I should let you walk away

I don't know if you're worth the trouble

But what I care enough to demand an answer to

"What did I have that you wanted for your own?"

You shameless thing, a web of deceit left in your wake

Antithetical to the driving force that binds people together

A thick veil of mist shrouds the true you that you can't let slip

In the name of all that's true, I'll deconstruct you piece by piece!

 **The Green Witness! Part Two!**

 _"...Do you remember me?"_

 _She didn't answer._

 _"Well, I guess that's a trick question anyhow. If you didn't, you wouldn't have run. Am I wrong, Sherry?"_

 _Her lip quivering, she let out a barely audible response:_

 _"What are you going to do to me?"_

 _Without looking away from their face, she reached her hand into her pocket. As she began to pull it out, That Person grabbed her hand and yanked it upwards._

 _He/She snatched the phone from her hand. He/She looked at the screen._

 _Haibara took this chance to run the other way. That Person tossed the phone over his/her shoulder and ran after her._

 _That Person grabbed her, picked her up, and slammed her against one of the lockers._

 _"What do you WANT with me?!" she demanded, exasperated._

 _He/She sighed. "We need to talk."_

 _Haibara suddenly felt like her right shoulder was being squeezed, squished even._

 _"You're hurting me," she said._

 _"Then let's make it quick, shall we? You know I can't help it."_

 _"You could let go of me."_

 _"Do you promise not to run?"_

 _"...Yeah. I promise."_

 _Mezcal let go of her. Haibara breathed a sigh of relief._

 _"You said you needed to talk to me? About what?"_

 _"You know what. The reason why they sent me here, to this school: to retrieve our man."_

 _"First, I have a question for you," she said. "it goes without saying you know my face. More likely than not you know that happened to that test mouse we administered the apotoxin to."_

 _"Yes. I figured it out shortly before your defection."_

 _"So all this time, you knew where I was, the name I go by now, the fact that I had degenerated into a child's body?"_

 _"Yeah. In the days following your defection, it didn't take me long at all to find you. I was there at the Queen's Cup soccer match on New Year's Day, taking pictures of you from another part of the stadium. I wore sunglasses and did my hair differently, so that you wouldn't recognize me. I sat in Location K. I figured out that a major incident had taken place there, one that might potentially put your life in danger, so I called your mother and warned her."_

 _"You...called mom?" Haibara repeated._

 _"Yeah," Mezcal said. "Apparently I looked suspicious to the police. One of their people was watching me. I thought for a second they might've known I was with the Organization, but I figured running would make me look even more suspicious."_

 _"But...If all this time you knew about me, about my mom, and the fact that she's still alive, then...!"_

 _"Look, I've been covering for you, okay? You've been real sloppy, Sherry. I considered you something close to a friend, so I took it upon myself to keep you hidden from the rest of the Men in Black. You oughta be thanking me, really. But I'm not here for a thanks, or to catch up on old times. I've been sent here to retrieve Rum. The old one."_

 _"B-but if you know that he's still alive, then..."_

 _"Then what? We know your people have the elixir, and that you found out about him dying, and so you revived him, shrunk him, and hid him here. That's it, as far as I'm care. Now, listen up, because I'm only gonna say this once. We're gonna get our guy back, and you're not gonna interfere. You won't tell the so-called White Organization about me, and you most definitely will not identify me to them. Because if you do, we'll kill all your friends. Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya. Genta Kojima, Hiroshi Agasa, Ayumi Yoshida...and of course, Kudo. Or as they call him now, Conan Edogawa. If you breathe a word, I'll tell my buddies all about him, and about Ran Mouri, or as they call her now, Nancy Akechi. Do I make myself clear?"_

 _Haibara was silent._

 _"Do I MAKE myself CLEAR?!"_

 _"YES! Perfectly so! And as you make yourself comfortable around here, stay the h*ll away from me!"_

 _Mezcal hesitated, but then nodded. "I don't think I can do that one hundred percent, but I can try. It was good seeing you again, if under these circumstances."_

 _That Person patted her on the head once and then turned around and walked away._

 _As soon as Mezcal was no longer in view, Haibara picked up her phone and then ran back to the cafeteria, and tried to act like nothing had happened._

 **Scene Transition**

It was a hassle for the police to keep random parents and teachers out of the music room where the murder had taken place. A crowd formed in the hallways nearby.

"Ah screw it!" one angry mom said to her husband. "I was told this was a safe school! I'm withdrawing Dohji first thing in the morning!"

"B-but the only other school he can walk to every day is private," her husband protested weakly. "We don't have that kind of money!"

Inside the music room:

"Your report?" Megure asked Takagi.

"Rigor Mortis on the body indicates he's been dead somewhere from 3-5 hours. Mitsuhiko-kun's testimony, that there was no dead body when he was in here about 5 hours ago, makes it unlikely that the victim's been dead longer than that."

"Hold on," Nancy said. "The door was locked when we tried to get inside, so that means..."

"Somebody must've locked the door after Mitsuhiko and that boy left," Conan finished. "The culprit was not in the room when we discovered the body, and there are no windows in here. Furthermore, there's no reason why the victim would lock himself in after he'd been stabbed. Therefore, the culprit must've locked the door from the outside, with a key. However, the key was still on the victim's person when we found him. Yasuda-san and I were the first persons to examine the body, so it couldn't have been planted there by the culprit. Not unless Yasuda-san were the culprit, that is."

"Ey, I don't like what you're inferin' about me, kid," Yasuda said. "But yeah, I get your point. The culprit is somebody who had access to a key. In short, a member of the school faculty."

"The doors to the school are generally locked after hours," Conan said. "Save the Principal or a janitor or nightguard, or a teacher as trusted as Kobayashi-sensei, nobody would be allowed to take the keys home with them. Yasuda-san, is that right?"

"Oh, uh, yeah. I unlocked the back entrance about an hour and a half ago so I could get inside and start my shift as janitor, and the front entrance, where the parents came in, was probably unlocked by the Principal. So in between school letting out and then, the doors to this place would be locked. The Principal would surely notice if there was a missing key. Therefore..."

"The culprit had to have been someone who never left this school since it let out in the afternoon," Megure said. "Yasuda-san? Could I ask if you could verify that you couldn't have done it?"

"Sure. I was with Ayumi-chan at the estimated time of the murder. You can call her and ask."

"Inspector, here's the Principal," Takagi said.

The old, long-bearded, and very wise principal of Teitan Elementary entered the room.

"I'd you don't mind me asking, who was here on the school grounds from the time that it let out earlier to when the parent-teacher conference started?" Megure asked.

"Hmm, if I recall, the only people here were myself, the deceased Nagatosho-san, Furui-san, and Sakaki-chan."

 **Scene Transition**

Tsubasa Furui, age 35, the geography teacher, and Sakaki Naito, age 22, the school's secretary, were called into the music room.

Most likely, one of these two people did it, Conan thought. One of them is the murderer of Nagatoshi.

"Furui-san, why were you here after hours?" Megure asked.

"I was in my office scouring the internet to make sure the essays my students turned in weren't plagiarized," Tsubasa said.

"And I'm on shift until 7:00 at night," Sakaki said. "Mainly I'm just there to pick up the phone."

"Both of you were alone, and had no one to corroborate your whereabouts?" Megure asked.

Sakaki nodded. "The Principal was asleep in his office, so I could left and come back without him noticeing. And if I went to the music room and back I wouldn't have passed by Tsubasa-san's office. Of course, the same could be said of him. Either one of us could've done it, easily."

"You know," Tsubasa said, "it's perfectly possible that earlier today a teacher unlocked a window here, returned onto the school grounds via it, killed Keitaro, and then left."

"Keitaro?" Megure repeated. "That means you knew him?"

"Yeah, sometimes we'd go and catch a movie together or something," Tsubasa said. "We weren't super close though."

"Hmm, that's odd," Yasuda said.

"Eh?" Conan said.

"This is the one classroom in which there's a carpet instead of a regular tiled floor," Yasuda said. "Furthermore, this is the only classroom to use an old-fashioned chalkboard, rather than a newer whiteboard. Kind of a had combination, honestly. You can see the white stains on the carpet underneath it. Some of those gotta be pretty old. How long's that carpet been there?"

"Dunno, " Conan said. "Ten years ago it was-

Nancy elbowed him hard. "Who knows, right? You'd have to ask the Principal or someone like that."

"...Oh, that's right!" Mitsuhiko said. "The trading card! I totally forgot!"

He ran over to the back of the room and found the desk. He looked under it and-

"Ah! Here it is!"

He ripped it out and peeled the piece of gum off.

"What's that?" Yasuda asked.

"What we came here for in the first place," Mitsuhiko said. "Um, would you please mind throwing away this gum for me?"

Yasuda accepted and walked over to the little, open-faced plastic trash bin.

"Hmm, that's strange..."

Conan, Nancy, and Mitsuhiko ran up to him, wondering if he'd found a clue.

"Did they have band practice today?" Yasuda asked.

"Umm, no, I don't think so," Nancy said.

"Are there any other classes in here besides band?" Yasuda asked.

"No," Conan said.

"That's funny, then, because I took out the contents of this last night. Who put this in here?"Nancy

Conan picked it up. "It's a plastic wrap for...an eraser?"

Realizing what had happened, Conan and Yasuda ran over to the chalkboard. They looked at it.

"It's chock full of random music stuff," Yasuda said. "Forte, Fortissimo, Haydn, Bach..."

"There!" Conan said, pointing.

There was a faint greenish-whitish blotch, where something had been erased. It was just about the only empty space left on the board.

"This must've been where Nagatoshi-sensei wrote a dying message," Nancy said. "The killer must've then come back, seen it, and erased it."

"And he had to go and get a new eraser to do it, since there were no other ones to be found," Conan said.

Conan and Yasuda looked at each other, and grinned.

"What?" Mitsuhiko asked. "I don't get it."

"His handwriting's all over the board," Conan said.

"Still, it's no use unless we know the killer's preferred style of doing *it*," Yasuda said.

"I think I know how to find out," Conan said. "Excuse me for a minute or two."

 **Scene Transition**

Conan went outside. He looked around, confirmed that nobody else was there, and gave Sonoko a call.

"Shinichi-kun?"

"Uh, hey," Shinichi's voice replied. "You know that one day I actually showed up for class after my disappearance? In geography I noticed there was a new teacher."

"Furui-san?"

"Yeah, him. He's still around?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"Unfortunately?"

"That jerk recently gave me a D on a big test!" Sonoko fumed. "He says Australia isn't in Europe! I mean, yes it is! Just look at a map!"

That's Austria, you dolt, Conan thought with a deadpan look. "So, um, listen. About him...there's something I need to know."

"Yes?"

"When he writes something on the board, and then he needs to erase it, how does he go about it? That is to say, how does he use an eraser?"

"Um, well, he, um, oh yeah. He makes a diagonal sweeping motion, from top left to bottom right, starting at the corner of the leftmost kanji character. After that, he turns it 90 degrees and goes up right, just like the aforementioned movement. Gosh, I just said 'aforementioned'. Bleh. Anyway, let's say he's trying to erase somebody's name, last name to the left and first name to the right. So at this point he would've erased the last name. To erase the first name, he mirrors what he just did, starting at the top right and brushing to the bottom left. You get the idea?"

"Yeah. Great memory you've got there, actually. I'm impressed. Well, nice talking to y-

"Wait! Before you hang up, I just wanna ask you...how're you feeling? Are you doing okay?"

"Yeah. Sure. What's this about?"

"About Ran, of course!"

Ah dang it, he thought. I forgot she doesn't know. "I-I'm doing fine. I think I've gotten over it. Is that all?"

"Y-yeah, but-

"Alright then, bye."

He hung up.

He sighed, and headed back inside.

 **Scene Transition**

"In light of our investigation going nowhere," Megure said, "it seems best to release our two suspe-

"Hold it right there, Inspector."

Yasuda finished writing on the board:

翼 (Tsubasa) 古井 (Furui)

Tsubasa nearly fainted when he saw that.

He turned to run away. As he neared the door, he was stopped by a woman.

Weighing in at over 300 pounds, Iroha Namiki had little difficulty pinning him to the floor.

"Hmm, I wonder why he tried to run," Conan said. "Surely it wasn't because...what's written on the board is Nagatoshi-sensei's dying message, in his own handwriting."

"Of course, this is simply a reconstruction based on samples of Nagatoshi's handwriting scattered all over the chalkboard," Yasuda said. "This alone doesn't prove anything. Nancy-kun, Mitsuhiko-kun, you have it?"

" _Haaaaaiiii!_ " the two of them replied in a singsong voice, returning to the room holding an unopened eraser packet.

"We have a hypothesis," Yasuda said. "That is to say, an assertion meant to try and explain something unknown. To turn that hypothesis into a theory, or even into a fact, we must first test that hypothesis with an experiment. First of all, this is the eraser our killer used to get rid of Nagatoshi's dying message, written in chalk on the board. To our good fortune, he left it sitting upside down, with the erasing side facing up. This means gravity hasn't eliminated the key evidence we need. Next, we have a brand new, unopened eraser."

Nancy took it out of the plastic wrap and gave it to Conan.

Yasuda lifted Conan up so that he could reach the dying message on the board. Doing exactly as Sonoko said, Conan erased the dying message.

Yasuda set him down, and Conan showed the two erasers to Megure.

"OH?!" Megure exclaimed.

"They're almost the exact same chalk pattern!" Takagi said.

"There's one more piece of evidence," Mitsuhiko said. "In the trash can right over there you should find a plastic wrap from the eraser originally used by him to erase the dying message. It should have his fingerprints on it."

Tsubasa fell to his knees. "I don't don't know how, but that man, Nagatoshi, he...he figured out that my college diploma is a forgery. He gave me a week to resign from my job here, and my job teaching at Teitan High, or else he'd destroy my reputation. And this job pays pretty good, enough to pay the mortgage, to put food on the table for my wife and children. I had to do it, you see! I had to...!"

He broke into tears. The police gave him half a minute, and then escorted him to the police station to face trial for his crimes.

 **Ending**

( _Hoshi Monogatari_ by Egoist)

I know you've taken this from my cold dead fingertips

I wrote this to tell you what I never had the nerve to say

Because I know that right now, you're punishing yourself

Because you of all people deserve to know the whole story

Once I was only a child, but I was old enough to understand

Something important was missing, though I didn't know what

I wandered in the dark, calling to the crowd, "Excuse me, sirs!"

"Somebody, anybody, please, tell me what I'm doing wrong!"

Finally, on the starry night of Tanabata, I looked out my window

And said, "Kami-sama, if you could let me have a friend, just one.

One who's true and faithful, and funny, but most of all spirited.

This one thing I ask, and I'll never ask for anything ever again."

And then I met you, and in what seemed like an eternity I had

The chance to know you, and for the first time I was really happy

It never ended, you see, that initial bliss: it grew, as we grew closer

Thank you, my one and dearest friend, for teaching me how to love

 **The Next Day**

They were gathered at the Professor's House: Conan, Subaru/Akai, Jodie Starling, Andre Camel, James Black, Hidemi Hondou, Ryan Jackson, and Yoshiteru Nichimura.

"Is this him?" James Black asked, showing her the next picture, one of Sumiko Kobayashi.

"No," Haibara answered.

"How about this one?" It was Iroha Namiki.

"No."

"Him?" Kanehiko Torishima.

"No."

"Okay, how about this guy?" Shigeo Yasuda.

"No, it's not him."

Soon, they'd gone through every person on the list of faculty at Teitan Elementary.

Haibara got up off the recliner.

"Ai-kun, are you sure?" Jodie asked. " Are you sure that Mezcal's not a teacher or employee of your school?"

"Yes, I'm quite sure," Haibara said.

"Um, okay then," Ryan Jackson said. "The FBI was gracious enough to lend us a sketch artist. Would you consider having a session with her, so we can know who to look out for?"

"Okay."

"Come on, she's waiting in the other room."

I'm sorry, Haibara thought. I can't let anything happen to my friends. They're all I have.

Nobody noticed as Conan and the Professor glanced at each other suspiciously.

 **End of Episode**


End file.
